Has BRAC 05 Impacted Springfield VA Home Sales?

Anyone currently living in Northern Virginia knows the deadline for moving thousands of civilians and military personnel in Northern Virginia is looming. Over the last few years the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) has been the topic of lots of press and projections on the impact on Northern Virginia home prices. Specifically the areas of Springfield and Fort Belvoir have been a key focus since these area are seeing the majority of new jobs with NGA and expansion of Fort Belvoir.

Since the crystal ball is still out of commission we are going to have to rely on charts from the MRIS to see what is happening with home sales in the area. I decided to take a look at the three zip codes in Springfield to start with.

The charts don’t lie…or at least they show the number of home sales in the Springfield area haven’t had meteoric rise since the announcement of the influx of 21,000 plus personnel to the area. As I stated in an article published by Northern Virginia Association of Realtors® entitled “The Bases Are Loaded-Is BRAC A Home Run For Realtors” in March 2011 not everyone coming to Fort Belvoir and NGA are new to the area.

What has been impacted are rentals in the area. Rental prices have seen a meteoric rise and cause sticker shock for many coming to the area. For now it doesn’t appear that BRAC has created the impact some were hoping for on the Springfield VA real estate market. But hey all sales are good and the market is holding steady which is a positive sign.